Deltona Petition Nears Halfway Mark

DELTONA — Supporters of incorporation for Deltona hope to have reached the halfway mark today in their petition-drive goal of 1,400 signatures.

The Deltona Civic Association is spearheading the effort to bring the issue to a referendum by Deltona voters in November.

Mary Lou Foster, association president, said at noon Friday that more than 400 supporters had signed since the campaign began last weekend. ''We will continue for at least the next four weeks, and longer, if necessary,'' she said.

Members of the association are manning tables each Friday and Saturday at the Deltona Plaza and Providence Plaza, distributing information on the incorporation issue and urging residents to sign petitions.

''The response has been overwhelmingly favorable,'' Foster said. ''We have had people pull up in cars and get out just to sign. One man said: 'We should have done this 20 years ago.'

''We signed up about 50 people Friday morning, and only about three others expressed anything negative or would not sign.''

If the drive ends successfully, the association will ask the Volusia County Council to pass a resolution favoring incorporation and send it to the state Legislature, where special legislation is required to approve a Deltona charter, which then is subject to approval by community residents.

Foster said Deltona ''has fewer services than any city in Volusia County, and those that we do have are paid for completely from property taxes on residents.''

She pointed out that income from state, county and local revenue-sharing accounts for 18.2 percent to 21.9 percent of the budgets of DeLand, Ormond

Beach and Port Orange, but funding of that nature is not available to Deltona because it is not incorporated.

''We lose about $6 million a year because we aren't incorporated,'' Foster said. ''If this effort to incorporate is not successful, we're not going to be able to afford to live here.''

Supporters who signed petitions Friday gave a variety of reasons for their position.

Lester Bingell, 491 Abeno Ave., said, ''I feel we should have more control over the city government and our police. Very seldom do I see a sheriff's department car in front of my place. I think we're getting a rip-off from the sheriff.''

Law enforcement in Deltona is handled by the Volusia County Sheriff's Department, which provides patrols of one or two deputies on a regular basis for the community of 27,000, which has more than 400 miles of streets.

''I think the time has come for incorporation,'' said Milton Walker, 1044 E. Normandy Blvd. ''It will help us get proper zoning. You can put up a nice house here, and someone can come in and put up a $27,000 house right next door, and then not take care of it.''